Bootleg recording
A ' bootleg recording' is an audio and/or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist, or under other legal authority.Bastard-art-gallery The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging. A great many such recordings are simply copied and traded among fans of the artist without financial exchange, but some bootleggers are able to sell these rarities for profit, sometimes by adding professional-quality sound engineering and packaging to the raw material. Bootlegs can consist of recordings of live performances, or material created in private or professional recording sessions. Changing technologies have had a great impact on the recording, distribution, and varying profitability of the underground industry. The copyrights for the song and the right to authorize recordings often reside with the artist, according to several international copyright treaties. The recording, trading and sale of bootlegs continues to thrive, however, even as artists and record companies attempt to provide "authorized" alternatives to satisfy the demand. greatly increased the distribution of bootleg recordings in the 1980s.]] Definitions The word "bootleg" originates from the practice of smuggling illicit items in the legs of tall boots, particularly the smuggling of alcohol during the American Prohibition era. The word, over time, has come to refer to any illegal or illicit product.Your-dictionary.com:bootleg This term has become an umbrella term for illicit, unofficial, or unlicenced recordings, including vinyl LPs, bootleg silver CDs, or any other commercially sold bootlegged media or material. Some recordings' releases - while appearing to be official - may in fact be unofficial. Through crafty packaging and desktop publishing, even the layman can create official 'looking' CDs. In the 1990s, so called, "import," CDs were actual bootlegs made available in many legitimate music stores. Most of these imports were from Italy. The Italian bootleg operation was shut down in the late 1990s, but several companies still manufacture silver CDs. Japan still has many bootleg labels, such as Highland, Empress Valley, Beelzebub, Godfather, Tarantura, and Tdolz, just to name a few. These bootlegs are hard to find for the layperson, but not for experienced collectors, or the internet savvy. Most artists consider any release for which they do not receive royalties to be a bootleg. Some releases while they appear official, are in fact unlicenced pirated copies. This is often the case with artists whose recordings have either become public domain or whose original agreements did not include reissue royalties (which was a common occurrence before the 1960s). Many bootlegs consist of private or professional studio recordings distributed without the artist's involvement, including demos, works-in-progress or discarded material. These might be made from private recordings not meant to be widely shared, or from master recordings stolen or copied from an artist's home, a recording studio or the offices of a record label. A number of bootlegs originated with FM radio broadcasts of live or previously recorded live performances. However, the most common type is the live bootleg, or audience recording, which is created with sound recording equipment smuggled into a live concert. Many artists and most live venues prohibit this form of recording, but from the 1970s onwards the increased availability of portable technology made such bootlegging increasingly easy, and as this technology has improved so too has the general quality of these recordings. The alternate terms ROIO or RoIO, an acronym meaning "R'ecording '''o'f 'I'ndeterminate 'O'rigin", or "'R'ecording 'o'f 'I'ndependent 'O'rigin", and '''VOIO or VoIO, an acronym meaning "'V'ideo 'o'f 'I'ndeterminate 'O'rigin", or "'V'ideo 'o'f 'I'ndependent 'O'rigin", arose among Pink Floyd collectors trying to clarify the differences between counterfeits, illegally made copies, live bootlegs, and "ROIOs", meaning recordings whose legal status was difficult or even impossible to determine. The term has spread beyond Pink Floyd fans but its recognition and usage depends largely on the individual community. It is also sometimes used to denote a Pink Floyd recording of any kind. . History of bootlegging 1970s and 1980s bootleg, Bob Dylan's Great White Wonder, released in July of 1969.]] During the 1970s the bootleg industry in the United States expanded rapidly, coinciding with the era of stadium rock or arena rock. Vast numbers of recordings were issued for profit by bootleg labels such as Kornyfone and Trade Mark of Quality. The large followings of bands such as Deep Purple, Eric Burdon, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd created a lucrative market for the mass production of unofficial recordings on vinyl, as it became evident that more and more fans were willing to purchase them. In addition, the huge crowds which turned up to these concerts made the effective policing of the audience for the presence of covert recording equipment virtually impossible. In Los Angeles there were a number of record mastering and pressing plants that were not "first in line" to press records for the major labels, usually only getting work when the larger plants were overloaded. These pressing plants were more than happy to generate income by pressing bootlegs of dubious legality. Sometimes they simply hid the bootleg work when record company executives would come around (in which case the printed label could show the artist and song names) and other times secrecy required labels with fictitious names. For example, a 1974 Pink Floyd bootleg called Brain Damage was released under the name The Screaming Abdabs. Bootleg collectors in this era generally relied on Hot Wacks, an annual underground magazine catalog of known bootlegs, for information about recently released bootleg albums. It provided the true information on releases with fictitious labels, and included details on artists and track listings, as well as the source and sound quality of the various recordings. The market outlets for bootlegs-for-sale were varied . In the early years, bootlegs could be bought from vendors lurking in the alleys and parking lots around live venues, as well as at swap meets, street markets, record collector shows, and smaller record stores. Mail order sources were advertised by word of mouth, and in many cases uniquely associated with individual bands. There were major markets in Japan and Europe for Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings, Beatles bootlegs, and rarities from The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, KISS, and Queen, among others. Throughout the 1970s most bootleg records were of poor quality, with many of the album covers consisting of nothing more than cheap photocopies. However, later in the decade a number of unofficial "labels" such as Swinging Pig emerged in Europe, which released limited editions of better quality recordings, with improved album artwork. This trend in enhanced audio and packaging standards continued into the 1980s. The 1980s saw the increased use of audio cassettes and videotapes for the dissemination of bootleg recordings, as the affordability of private dubbing equipment made the production of multiple copies significantly easier. Cassettes were also smaller, easier to ship, and could be sold or traded more affordably than vinyl. Cassette culture and tape trading, propelled by the DIY ethic of the punk subculture, relied on an honor system where people who received tapes from fellow traders made multiple copies to pass on to others within the community. For a while, stalls at major music gatherings such as the Glastonbury Festival sold mass copies of bootleg soundboard recordings of bands who, in many cases, had played only a matter of hours beforehand. However, officials soon began to counteract this illegal activity by making raids on the stalls and, by the end of the 1980s, the number of festival bootlegs had consequently dwindled. According to Clinton Heylin, author of Bootleg: The Rise & Fall of the Secret Recording History, the five most bootlegged artists are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Probably the most celebrated bootleg recording is The Black Album by Prince. The album was to have been a conventional major-label release but was pulled back from the market almost immediately after its initial release in November 1987. Bootlegs appeared shortly thereafter from a variety of sources and with widely different sound qualities. Reportedly, over 500,000 copies were sold. 1990s and 2000s In the 1990s, there was a widespread conversion of many of the older bootlegs onto the compact disc format. Unofficial recordings became more readily available than ever before, resulting in thousands of bootlegs being circulated on CD amongst avid collectors and fans, in many cases of shows which had been originally recorded over thirty years previously. In particular, companies in Germany and Italy exploited the more relaxed copyright laws in those countries by pressing large numbers of CDs and including catalogs of other titles on the inlays, making it easier for fans to find and order shows direct. Similarly, relaxed copyright laws in Australia meant that the most serious legal challenge to unauthorized releases were made on the grounds of trademark law by Sony Music Entertainment in 1993. Court findings were in favor of allowing the release of unauthorized recordings clearly marked as "unauthorised". However, the updated GATT 1994 soon closed this so-called "protection gap" in all three aforementioned countries effective January 1, 1995. Filling in the vacuum, with the Internet expanding, bootleg websites and mailing lists began to appear, including public websites catering to collectors who exchanged tapes and CDs free of charge, and surreptitious ones devoted to the sale of bootlegs for profit. During this period, composer Jerry Goldsmith became well-known for physically smashing bootleg CDs presented to him to sign. A German outfit called Tsunami Records was prolifically selling unauthorized recordings of Goldsmith's music for prices that generally exceeded standard retail for a single disc. The tightening of laws and increased enforcement by police on behalf of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other industry groups—often for peripheral issues such as tax evasion—gradually drove the distributors of for-profit vinyl and CD bootlegs further underground. Physical bootlegging largely shifted to less regulated countries such as Hong Kong, Russia and Brazil, with the results distributed through existing underground channels, open market sites such as eBay, and other specialized websites. However, the late 1990s and early 2000s saw an increase in the free trading of digital bootlegs, sharply decreasing the demand for and profitability of physical bootlegs. The rise of standard audio file formats such as MP3 and FLAC, combined with the ability to share files between computers via e-mail, FTP, instant messaging, and specialized peer-to-peer file sharing networks such as Napster (now defunct as p2p), Limewire, Soulseek and BitTorrent, made it simpler than ever for bootleg collectors to exchange rarities. Older analog recordings were converted to digital format for the first time, tracks from bootleg CDs were ripped to computer hard disks, and new material was created with digital recording of various types, and all of these types could now be easily shared. The quality and portability of recording devices and microphones also increased exponentially, resulting in recordings which were often on a par with official releases. One notable change caused by this shift in technology was the unit of exchange: instead of album-length collections or live recordings of entire shows, fans often now had the option of searching for and downloading bootlegs of individual songs.Jordan, Keith. "T'Internet - A Bootleg Fan's Paradise" - The Past, Present and Future of Bootlegs considering the internet. NPF Magazine. November 2006. Legal issues Bootlegging vs. piracy vs. counterfeiting An illegally copied release is distinguished from a counterfeit. Counterfeits attempt to mimic the look of officially released product; illegally copied releases do not necessarily do so, possibly substituting cover art or creating new compilations of a group's released songs. A counterfeit is always an illegal copy but an illegal copy is not necessarily a counterfeit. "Bootlegging" is sometimes also used to refer to the unlicensed file sharing of copyrighted music but the term illegal copying or "piracy" is usually used instead. In the same vein, "bootlegging" has become the default term amongst Japanese anime fans to describe the piracy or counterfeiting of CDs, DVDs, computer and video games, arcade games, and other merchandise. These increasingly sophisticated imitation goods from Hong Kong are much reviled by fans and the industry alike, and many anime fan conventions have adopted a strict non-bootleg policy for vendors and attendees. Laws and court rulings The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works has protected the copyrights on literary, scientific, and artistic works since 1886. Article 9 of the Convention states that: Authors of literary and artistic works protected by this Convention shall have the exclusive right of authorizing the reproduction of these works, in any manner or form. ... Any sound or visual recording shall be considered as a reproduction for the purposes of this Convention. Under the Berne Convention, when a composer puts a new song in a "fixed form," for example sheet music or an audio recording, copyright law grants them the exclusive right to control who may perform that song (called performing rights) as well as control over how any derivative work is used, such as a recording of a performance of that song. These rights are retained for at least 50 years after the composer's death (typically longer). In some cases, if the song being performed is in the public domain or is free content and is performed faithfully, no copyright is violated by recording it; however such a recording may still violate performers rights, a type of neighboring right that is recognized in many nations. Where they exist, performers rights may have a shorter duration than full copyright; for example, the Rome Convention sets a minimum term of twenty years after the performance. One example of an organization that promotes performers rights is the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), founded in 1967, a specialized agencies of the United Nations that aims for the international protection of intellectual property rights. Article 6 of the international WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty of 1996 specifies: "Performers shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing, as regards their performances: (i) the broadcasting and communication to the public of their unfixed performances except where the performance is already a broadcast performance; and (ii) the fixation of their unfixed performances." The WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act in the United States says "(a), unless authorized by the owners of copyright in the sound recording or ... in the musical works embodied therein, neither the owner of a particular phonorecord ... may, for the purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage, dispose of, or authorize the disposal of, the possession of that phonorecord ... by rental, lease, or lending, or by any other act or practice in the nature of rental, lease, or lending."WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act, Title 17, Chapter 1, § 109 (portions involving computer programs elided for readability). Most artists have made little effort to pursue legal action about bootleg recordings, viewing such "rarities trading" as harmless provided that it is not being done for profit. The benefits of interfering with such trading are fairly minimal compared to the potential ill-will generated against the artist, as the illicit works are generally circulated among the artist's most loyal fans, which have the most interest. Most record companies also have not shown an interest in pursuing or prosecuting small-scale bootleggers, but this could change at any time. In 2004 U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. struck down a 1994 law banning the sale of bootleg recordings of live music, ruling that the law unfairly grants a seemingly perpetual copyright period to the original performances. He dismissed a federal indictment of Jean Martignon, who was running a Manhattan mail-order and Internet business that sells bootleg recordings. The Recording Industry Association of America disagreed with the ruling, saying the decision "stands in marked contrast to existing law and prior decisions that have determined that Congress was well within its constitutional authority to adopt legislation that prevented trafficking in copies of unauthorized recordings of live performances", according to spokesman Jonathan Lamy. In 2007, Judge Baer's ruling was overruled, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that the anti-bootlegging statute was within the power of congress. 492 F. 3d 140 Legal alternatives to illicit bootlegging Artists and record companies have attempted to find ways to provide authorized alternatives to satisfy consumer demand for bootleg recordings, including the marketing of their own live albums and rarities collections. Authorized live bootlegs An increasing number of artists have decided to allow and encourage live audience recording, although they and their fans generally consider the selling of such recordings—as opposed to keeping them for one's own personal enjoyment or trading them for other audience recordings—to be illegitimate bootlegging. Fans cite the encouragement of these recordings as a key factor in their long-term loyalty to these bands. In addition, many performers have made joking suggestions to bootleggers presumably in the audience, especially when a new or unusual song is about to be performed. Fans often hopefully cite such comments as evidence of permission to make bootleg recordings. The Grateful Dead, Nine Inch Nails & Phish are well known for explicitly allowing their shows to be taped. Instant live bootlegs In the early 2000s, artists responded to the demand for bootleg concert recordings by experimenting with the sale of authorized bootlegs made directly from the unmixed soundboard feeds, or from on the fly multitrack mixes, and thus superior to surreptitious audience recordings which are typically marred by crowd noise. These releases were generally available a few days to a few weeks after the concert. Notable examples include Genesis, and Peter Gabriel, who has released such copies of live recordings for most of his concerts since 2003. KISS recorded their shows and sold the copies right after the concert was over during their 2008 world tour. In the mid-2000s, improving technology in high-speed CD reproduction made some of these "official boots" available to audience members immediately as they leave the concert; some companies can begin selling complete concert CDs less than ten minutes after the end of the show. However, a key patent in the process (that of dividing the single recording into discrete digitally marked tracks during recording) was bought by media giant Clear Channel Communications, which sued smaller competitors for patent infringement to force them out of the business. When Clear Channel divested its live entertainment business into the spin off company Live Nation in 2005, the patents were transferred as well. The patent ( ) was revoked by the USPTO in 2007 after challenges filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Commercially released bootlegs Many recordings first distributed as bootleg albums were later released officially by the copyright holder; for instance, the release of Bob Dylan's 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert on Vol. 4 of his Bootleg Series in 1998 effectively killed the demand for bootlegs of the concert. In 2002, Dave Matthews Band released Busted Stuff in response to the Internet-fueled success of The Lillywhite Sessions which they had not intended to release. Queen are slowly releasing 100 bootlegs for sale as downloads at their Online Store, with profits going to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Although he is opposed to illegitimate recording of his concerts Robert Fripp's DGMlive.com offers many King Crimson bootlegs for sale as downloads. See also * Magnitizdat, for live recordings of banned bards and musicians in the Soviet Union * Taper (concert) * Cam (bootleg) * Great White Wonder * Kum Back * The Beatles bootleg recordings * Bob Dylan bootleg recordings * Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings * Pink Floyd bootleg recordings References Further reading * Heylin, Clinton. The Great White Wonders: The Story of Rock Bootlegs. Viking Press, September 1994. (ISBN 0-670-85777-7) * Heylin, Clinton. Bootleg! The Rise & Fall of the Secret Recording Industry. Omnibus Press, 2004. * Thompson, Dave. A Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting. Backbeat Books, September 2002. (ISBN 0-87930-713-7) External links * Etree Wiki * Pirated Business In Ukraine (in Russian) * Video Bootlegs * Live Music Archive * Stream Free Concerts and Authorized Live Recordings * A History of Bootlegging * Collectors Music Review * CD Pinkerton. "What is a bootleg" (1996) Category:Bootleg recordings Category:Copyright law Category:Music industry be-x-old:Бутлегавы запіс cs:Pirátská deska da:Bootleg de:Bootleg es:Bootleg fr:Bootleg (musique) id:Bootleg it:Bootleg he:בוטלג ka:ბუტლეგური ჩანაწერი hu:Bootleg nl:Bootleg ja:ブートレグ no:Bootleg pl:Bootleg pt:Bootleg ru:Бутлег fi:Bootleg sv:Bootleg zh:海賊版